Walter b



(No Model N0. 602,805. Patented Apr. 19, 1898.

Q90 3mm UNITED STATES PATENT @rmcn.

W'ALTER B. HUMPHREY, OF WINDSOR, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO ASHMEAD G. RODGERS, OF SAME PLACE.

GARM ENT-SUPPORTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 602,805, dated April 19, 1898.

A plication filed September 10, 1896. Serial No. 605 ,359. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern-.-

Be it known that I, WALTER B. HUMPHREY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Windsor, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Garment- Supporters, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, whereby anyone skilled in the art can make and use the same.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple, compact, and easily-operated fastening device by means of which a skirt or other garment may be grasped and held in the required position; and to this end my invention consists in the clasp and supporting means and in the combination of the several parts making up the device, as hereinafter described, and more particularly set out in the claim.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of the device; Fig. 2, afront view; Fig. 3, a rear view; Fig. 4:, a side view showing the catch in a raised position. Fig. 5 is a front view of the supporter with the hook broken away and showing the catch in a raised position. Fig. 6 is a side view of the clasp, illustrating its method of operation in holding a garment.

In the accompanying drawings the letter a denotes the clasp or supporter as a whole, which is made up of a body part b and a sliding catch a. The body part is made, preferably, from thin sheet metal, the lower portion broadened and having the slot d, which is of keyhole shape, or broad at its upper part and narrow at the lower, to receive the stud on the catch and hold it in firm engagement. The upper end of the body partis provided with a downturned hook e, extending for the greater part of its length substantially parallel to the body part and of a width which provides the proper strength in view of the use to which the device is to be put.

The sliding catch a is supported on the body part by means which not only permit a free sliding movement of the catch, but also enable it to be swung outward and placed at an angle with the body part, or, briefly, the catch has a hinged as well as a sliding connection to the body part. The catch is made of a thin strip of metal having at its lower end a broad-headed stud f and at its u p perend arms g, formed, preferably, by integral projections from the substance of the catch folded over theedge of the narrow part of the body part and extending a suflicient distance inward to firmly connect the parts. These arms loosely grasp the narrow portion of the body part, so as to permit of the requisite sliding and swinging movements.

The catch 0 is located'on the rear or outer portion of the body part with the stud f projecting toward the latter, so as to enable it to be thrust through the opening cl and then slid downward into the narrower portion of the slot.

The stud f has a shank smaller in diameter than the narrow portion (1 of the slot, and the head of the stud is of a diameter which causes it to extend over beyond the edges of the slot when the stud is located in this narrow portion 61 of the slot. Sufficient space is left be tween the parts to permit a fold of a garment to wrap about the stud when the latter is located in the holdingslot.

In the operation of the device the clasp is supported on a fixed part 71., which may be the waistband of a garment or a belt, the hook e engaging the upper edge of the belt or like part. The catch 0 is swung outward, as illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawings, and the upper edge 1' of the garment thrust between the body part of the clasp and the catch. The latter is then thrust inward, so as to cause a fold of the garment to be wrapped about the stud when the latter is in the position as shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings. The stud covered by the fabric of the garment is thrust through the opening and the catch then slid downward into the position shown in Fig. 6, and in this position the garment is firmly supported. A reversal of these several steps that is, the upward sliding of the catch and a swinging movement outwarddisengages the parts. The clasp is preferably first secured to the skirt or like garment to be supported and then the hook is engaged with the upper edge of the belt or trousers of the'band.

1 claim as my invention In a garment supporter, in combination with a body part having a keyhole-slot at the body part of the supporter whereby the clasp lower end, a clasp having abroadened head is automatically swung outward in its upward 1o constructed to enter the broader part of the sliding movement.

slot and to be held in the narrower part, inr tegral arms on the clasp embracing the body PER HUMPHREY' part of the supporter, and a hook at the up- \Vitnesses: per end of the supporter, the bend of the hook EDWIN S. STEVENS, being of the same size as the shank of the ASHMEAD G. RODGERS. 

